Template measurements

The original example was a book published by the Blurb print-on-demand service. They have a book-size calculator which gives the values for the Scribus setup.

No printing press (or printer) prints all the way to the edge of the paper. If you want images and color blocks to extend all the way to the edge of the paper, the solution is to use a sheet of paper larger than the final result, print beoynd the margins, and then cut down the paper to the final size. The distance printed outside the final edge is called "bleed".

The next step is to set up Scribus for this project (File > Document setup):

Hyphenator tab

Language: English (or whatever language you work in)

Fonts tab

DejaVu fonts: make sure Subset is unchecked (this step is necessary to be able to embed the fonts into the final PDF; note that “subset” in Scribus case really means outlining and we don't want that).

The Document Setup > Fonts tab. Make sure that Subset is unchecked.

Master pages

To keep the look of the pages consistent, Scribus has a template function called “Master pages”. All elements (text, images, guide lines) placed on these pages appear on all the pages that use them. They are therefore useful for guidelines (which wont print), page numbers, headers and footers (which will print).

Select Edit > Master Pages and the Edit Master Pages dialog appears. Click "Normal Left". The Scribus main window now shows the master page for a left page.

Select Page > Manage guides. A Guide Manager window appears. Click the Single tab. We want to insert one vertical guide (lines that won't print but will aid us when positioning elements on the page) so click the Add button and enter the following value: 6.35 mm. Added two horizontal guides (for the page header and the line number) at 6.35 mm and 196.86 mm.

The Guide Manager window.

Check Lock guides so you won't accidentaly move them and clos the Guide Manager window.

Repeat the procedure for "Normal Right". Select Page > Manage guides and click the Single tab. Click Add and enter the following values: 120.65 mm (127 - 6.35 mm). Finally add the two horizontal guides (for the page header and the line number) at 6.35 mm and 196.86 mm.

Check Lock guides and clos the Guide Manager window.

Close the Edit Master Pages window.

Baseline grid

The baseline grid is a set of horizontal lines, one for each text line, that is used to align the body text. Chose File > Document setup, click on the Guides icon and enter the following values:

Show baseline grid: Checked

Baseline grid: 12 pt (the same as the linespacing of the Text body paragraph style which we will soon define)

Baseline Offset: 15 mm (the same as the top margin of the template, makes sure that the baseline is relative to the area where the text will go)

Styles

Styles can be of two kinds: paragraph styles and character styles. A paragraph is all text entered before the user presses the Enter key and a paragraph style applies to all the characters. A character style on the other hand, can be applied to as few as a single character (but is normally used for one or a few words).

Use the following paragraph styles:

Heading 2

date

Text body: first line is indented

Text body - first paragraph: first paragraph of body text

quote: for quoted paragraphs, first line is indented.

quote - first paragraph: first paragraph of quote (not indented)

list: for lists of items that are several lines long. One blank line between/before each

header: page header (ie title of book)

footer: page footer (ie page number)

Character styles:

title: Use the title style for titles.

title in quote: Use the title style for titles mentioned in quotes.

Bring up the Style Manager (Edit > Styles).

Styles are defined based on each other in a hierarchy. Start by defining the default character style: